Director of Tourism, Colin Piper, is reporting a rise in stay over visitors by air to the island but the number of visitors by sea is ‘stagnant.’
He told privately-owned Q95 on Tuesday the figures show “that we need to focus a little bit more.”
“So far we are about 1.3 percent up (in visitor arrivals) in January and February and what’s interesting is that visitations to Melville Hall by air is up, but visitations via the ferries seem to be a little stagnant or a little lower,” he stated.
He said the island registered a total of 78,255 stay over visitors in 2013 but further growth is needed if the goal of attracting 90,000 by 2015 is to become a reality.
Piper remarked every year the month of May is observed as Tourism Awareness Month and the opportunity is given to educate, inform and promote all things tourism.
“This is a major, major industry in Dominica and foreign direct earner and we just want folks to understand a little bit more about what we do and the importance of the industry to Dominica and the national economy,” he said.
He stated that in moving forward, focus will be placed on Dominica’s French neighbours and “source markets where the access is convenient.”
“The communication about how to come to Dominica and what to expect in Dominica must be crystal clear and we try again to focus on what it is we have,” he said.
Piper noted that it doesn’t make sense comparing Dominica to other islands “in terms of white sandy beaches and turquoise waters.”
“We have to focus on what we have, the competitive advantage on and what we do, and the natural assets that we have,” he stated.
When asked whether marketing Dominica as the “Nature Island” is actually working, Piper replied ‘yes,’ but stated it has to be broadened a bit.
“It just doesn’t have to be rain forest when you think of nature, it can be adventure,” he stated.
He pointed to the just concluded Nature Island Challenge (NIC) as one such example.
Interesting revelation but not impressive at all… can some one please provide some information on the state of Dominica’s tourism for us to understand what is going on here…?
If you want more visitors by sea then we need to make immigration fast and efficient. Many French people have told me they will not come by ferry because you have to wait over 2 hours in immigration. For what? immigration should realize they play a part in tourism development as well.
So Dominica taxpayers give DDA a total of EC$2million to get 1,000 more visitors ? We’d probably get a 1.3% increase organically, without a marketing budget. So that’s failure, plain and simple.
Spending on festivals such as Jazz & Creole, for example, is a shocking waste of money. Anyone who believes this is more than a personal project of the DDA management is deluding themselves. It has a budget of EC$200,000 and makes a loss. For what ? To attract how many visitors exactly ? Two ? Three ? It’s a private party for ex-pats and bourgeois. Nothing more.
People come to the Caribbean, and always will, for sun, sea, sand and surf. For the majority of tourists this region is still about sailing, sunbathing and sunsets. Trying to change an entire global mindset is sheer folly. We should build the industry around our high-end eco hotels and resorts, and we should have proper yachting marinas and haul-out facilities. Hiking, scuba diving, wellness and adventure activities will all prosper on the back of world class eco resorts and marinas. The DDA’s current strategy is a mistake, it’s amateurish, and it’s costing us too much time and money.
air visitors up. sea visitor stagnant…
well just crash couple planes in d sea and it will level out
The Nature Island Challenge had teams from Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica and the US (actually the US team was Ross medical students and their partners, so really another Dominica team then). How international ! How absolutely worth while. Do keep up the good work.
So how much money did DDA spend per head to get these extra 1000 or so visitors ? It may be more cost effective to simply pay people to come here.
We should stage three World creole Festivals, One in Roseau, one in Portsmouth, and maybe one in Laplaine. Maybe we will meet our goals for 2015.
Colin – you need to stop while you are ahead. You are giving an interview and reporting a 1.3 percent increase but you failed to give the actual number of tourist that equates to? People who are knowledgeable and familiar with these tactics know your game. 1.3% is almost like reporting flat growth. You might as well already tell your Minister that the goal is unreachable given the major issues that you face as a destination.
Another Dominican who cannot read
3 x I came to Dominica from Europe via Paris& Guadeloupe. And it always took me 3 days at least to finally arrive at the Nature Island. Not that I mind a “slow arrival”, but not beeing able to book&buy a ferry ticket in advance makes the journey an adventure- arriving late at night at a hotel to leave it in the middle of the night again trying to get a ticket for the early morning Ferry!?! I always ended up staying 2 nights in Gwada spending money I`d have rather spent in Dominica… Booking tickets via internet really should not be a problem anymore in 2014!
Good example. But why did you fly to Guadeloupe ? You could have flown from Europe via Paris or Amsterdam,to St Maarten, then direct same day connection St Martin to Dominica with Winair or Liat .
Sometimes, travel agents do not give the good advice when it comes to building an itinerary.
Thanxs for the advice Aviator! I flew to Guadeloupe because of the price (-buget does matter for some tourists…) and I like to take the ferry (- I hate flying…). So it would be great for customers to book the ferry ticket in advance!
I`ll be back- via ferry!
Did I read right, “air visitors up, sea visitors stagnant” and they change the date for the world creole music festival to accommodate the French visitors who travel by sea… Ha ha.
Maybe more people would travel by sea if they could navigate their way on Express Des Isle website as not everyone speak French.
Mr. Piper keep doing the good work. ppl will always have things to say but when u put them in the hot seat they melt like ice.
My family and I are going to be visitors to Dominica via air in July (can’t wait!). I am from the U.S., am reasonably well-traveled, pretty well-educated, and always did well in geography. Nevertheless, I had never heard of your island until last November when I was on a plane from the continental U.S. to San Juan P.R.. Sitting next to me was an accountant from Minnesota who was going to visit his new girlfriend who worked at a resort in Dominica. He had been to your island once before and spun a great story. I am just one data point, but tourism needs to continue to work hard to increase name recognition for Dominica.
My husband and I are from Alabama..spent 7 days in Dominica..stayed at Pagua Bay Resort. Lovely visit, beautiful people. We hired a driver and took a full day Island tour…worth every cent.
DDA wastes all the money in travelling the Ministry of Finance gives them no wonder we will forever be the Cinderella of the Caribbean when it comes to progress and development!
Ms. P
The mandate of the DDA is to market the destination. How will DDA achieve this if they do not attend tradeshows? In order to attend they have to TRAVEL …….SMH.
I would love to fly into Martinique and take a taxi to a ferry bound for Dominica, the Saintes, MarieGallante, St. Lucia…..
Right now I would have to board a plane in Portland OR, fly to Denver or Phoenix, then change planes and fly to Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, or San Juan, and then a long wait for LIAT to fly to Martinique, and then another wait for the ferry.
I wish it would be easier, but I still wouldn’t want larger jets landing on Dominica.
Woton
i think Piper got it all wrong . What they do is count everyone who arrives at the airport as tourists or visitor. This is not right . a guy comes down to bury his grand mother is accompanied by his wife and two children these are not visitors . They become such at the window to pay the expensive departure tax . And there is another problem that family might have slept at the airport in san juan before getting to D A . Seaborne advertises seamless travel with Jet blue but when you try to book the flight on line it does not go through , call the airline you are told you have to book by a third party. it is the same with delta . booking with American makes it a two day trip as you arrive too late for same day connection.Last time I checked jetblue was $800 plus. while american was $517.00 .Me tink Piper , Ian ,and Skirit need to get things straight before they talk of a tourist industry that does not exist
But power house let me ask you nah in my DA voice you flew in rite? he did not say you swim in am sure you had to spend for the funeral am sure you had to buy drinks food and whatever else so in other terms you spent at least a dollar, a dollar spent is one earned by someone In DA Lord I ask you to keep your hands on us cause am sure some people will never get things for the long run but you put who you had to put there to take care of the island and its people.
What i think Express des isles should try and do is extend the ferry service to other islands, expecially hubs such as Antigua, Barbados, St-Martin etc. I think alot of dominicans abroad and visitors would like to have another way of getting to DA instead of having LIAT as our only option.
Waw. We are struggling to attract 100,000, when other islands are bench marking 1000,000.
I wonder if a jet airport may work the magic.
do you really want 1000000 tourist to visit DA ? think about it
even without an international airport, we still doing our ting.
REALLY?!